John Ernest Townend (12 June 1934 – 18 August 2018)[1] was a British politician who was a Member of Parliament for the Conservative Party.
[4] Townend was active in local politics and unsuccessfully contested the parliamentary seat of Hull North at the 1970 general election.
He was then elected to Humberside County Council in 1973, becoming the Leader of the Conservative Group and shadow chairman of the policy committee.
In 1984, he suggested that foreigners employed in industries should be replaced by unemployed Britons, and in 1989 he stated that "England must be reconquered for the English.
"[5] In 2001, shortly before his retirement as an MP, he became engulfed in a row within the Conservative Party when, referring to a statement by Foreign Secretary Robin Cook that there was no such thing as a British race, he said that his constituents in Bridlington would not agree, and asked whether Cook therefore thought instead that the British were a "mongrel race".